For the first time in six weeks, No. 13 ASU women’s volleyball will not have a match against a top-15 team in the coming weekend.
Against Colorado and Utah, it’s the first week the team is not playing a ranked team since the opening trio of matches in late August.
Head coach Jason Watson said he didn’t realize how long it had been, but he doesn’t put any emphasis on rankings.
“That stuff is meaningless to me,” he said.
Colorado proved that last weekend when the Buffaloes beat then-No. 6 Stanford.
“They’re always good, they’re athletic,” Watson said.
Colorado has two outside hitters who form a strong tandem in the Pac-12. Senior Alexis Austin and sophomore Gabby Simpson each have more than 3.50 kills per set, a number higher than any active ASU player.
ASU senior middle blocker Whitney Follette is transitioning to opposite hitter. Watson said he made the decision based on who he thought would help both offensively and defensively on the right side.
“After watching her play on the sand, she’s conformable doing that,” he said.
A lot of emphasis was placed on defense. Junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell is the weak spot in an overall strong Sun Devil defense. Without senior outside hitter Macey Gardner, Watson said Pickrell needs to improve faster.
“I feel like she’s getting there,” he said on Oct. 14.
In the meantime, the team has made adjustments to continue a solid defense.
Follette had 12 total blocks last weekend and also led the charge offensively, hitting 23 kills.
“It’s been a lot of fun and just a little different kind of tiring,” Follette said. “Middle, you’re jumping twice as much but then the outside, you’re running back and forth.”
Pac-12 matches are never easy, but ASU won’t have a better opportunity to turn its four-game losing streak around than in its match on Friday against Utah. The Utes are in last place in the Pac-12, with its sole in-conference victory coming against Colorado.
In that match, sophomore outside hitter Adora Anae had 11 kills.
Though ASU beat Utah both times in 2014, Adora made the matches difficult. She had 30 total kills in the two matches, and in one of them, she had 17 kills and a .424 hitting percentage.
Senior setter Bianca Arellano remembers Anae from last season. The Utah player had 30 total kills in the two matches. In one of them, she had 17 kills and a .424 hitting percentage.
“She kind of killed us,” Arellano said.
Freshman middle blocker Jasmine Koonts is expected to play after missing last week with a concussion. She’ll take some time from senior middle blocker Andi Lowrance, and may play as an opposite hitter, which she did two weeks ago.
Junior opposite hitter Kizzy Ricedorff is unlikely to play due to a hand injury. She missed practice on Tuesday and Watson said he doesn’t know when she’ll return.
The Sun Devils’ return home comes at a perfect time: in the midst of a losing streak, on a team with injuries, against two teams lower in the conference.
"We’ve been fairly efficient at home, it’s been nice,” Watson said. “We’re playing with a different deck of cards now.”
Related Links:
ASU women's volleyball: Who's injured, how's the lineup changing
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